When 72-year-old President Donald Trump met June 12 with 35-year-old North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, the world held its breath, hoping to avert war on the Korean Peninsula.” For more than a year, Trump and Kim traded barbs, but, more importantly, Kim tested nuclear weapons and shot off ballistic missiles over Japan. Meeting a U.S. president for the first time, Kim promised at the one-day summit in Singapore, Malaysia to “de-nuclearize the Korean Peninsula. Since the summit ended, Trump and Kim have maintained cordial relations until now, with North Korea insisting on sanctions relief or they’ll resume nuclear and ballistic missile testing. Saying they’d bring back “pyongjin,” a program of economic and nuclear development, North Korea’s Foreign Ministry asked Washington for concessions. North Korea wants a peace treaty with the U.S. and South Korea.
Since the summit ended, both sides have failed to get on the same page when it comes to disarming North Korea’s nuclear and intermediate and long-range ballistic missile arsenal. Things got so bad Sept. 23, 2017 that North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho told the U.N. General Assembly that it’s “inevitable” North Korean missiles would hit the U.S. homeland. North Korea’s Foreign Ministry said today that if the U.S. did not provide sanctions relief, the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea [DPRK] would resume “pyyongjin” or nuclear development. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he spoke with high-ranking North Korean official Kim Young-choi about setting up and new summit with Trump and Kim. Pompeo admitted there’s much work to be done to resolve enough issues to enable the U.S. to end the crippling sanctions hitting the North Korean economy.
Pyongyang resents U.S. calls for “maximum pressure” or continuing harsh economic sanctions until North Korea agrees disarm its nukes and ballistic missiles. North Korea wants the U.S. to end crippling economic sanctions in exchange for completing a peace treaty, something not done when the Korean War ended July 27, 1953. “The U.S. thinks that its off-repeated ‘sanctions and pressure’ lead to ‘de-nulearization,’” said a DPRK Foreign Ministry statement. Saying the DRPK would match U.S. good will with “proactive and good-will measures” in response to the U.S. lifting sanctions, it’s time for both sides to make the right kind of concessions for peace. North Korea looks to suspend its nuclear and Intercontinental Ballistic Missile [ICBM] program if the U.S. ends economic sanctions. Maximum pressure looks like it’s backfiring attempts at disarmament.
Advanced work before the next summit between Trump and Kim, Pompeo needs take some risks when it comes to ending U.S. sanctions against the DPRK. Kim has allowed the International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA] inspectors into nuclear test sites, proving, it nothing, else he’s ready to play ball. Kim’s met with South Korean President Moon Jae-in three times, trying to work out a de-nuclearization deal. Moon wants Trump to make more concessions to Kim to allow the DPRK to let go of its nuke and ballistic missile program. Kim’s only bargaining chip with Trump are his nukes and ballistics, making ending punitive economic sanctions all the more important for Pompeo and his negotiating team to show flexibility. If Pompeo suspends crippling economic sanctions, he’d no doubt win concessions from Kim. No amount of U.S. pressure can stop Kim’s nuke and ballistic missile program.
Pompeo and his State Department negotiating team have reached a fork in the road: Continuing punitive economic sanctions is going nowhere. “If the U.S. keeps behaving arrogantly without show any change in its stand while failing to properly understand our repeated demand, the DPRK may add one thing to the state policy for directing all efforts to the economic construction adopted in April and as a result, the word :”pyongjin” may appear again,” said the DPRK’s statement Friday. When Trump and Kim were at loggerheads in 2017, it did the world no good, worried about war on the Korean Peninsula. Ending U.S. sanctions in exchange for the DPRK suspending its nukes and ballistic missile only makes sense. Moon and South Korea’s corporate community wants to see progress toward de-nuclearization, not continued threats from Washington and Pyongyang.
Before President Trump meets again with Kim, he should instruct Pompeo to start making concessions on U.S. and U.N. sanctions on North Korea. Suspending nuclear and ballistic testing was Kim’s way of asking Trump to suspend at least some of the crippling economic sanctions on Pyongyang. Since meeting with Trump June 12, Kim has stopped all the belligerent rhetoric that once blanketed the airwaves. To move U.S.-North Korean diplomacy forward, it’s time for Trump to end punitive economic sanctions to see how far Kim is willing to go with his nukes and ballistic missile program. Trump has nothing to lose ending sanctions to test Kim’s sincerity about de-nuclearizing the Korean Peninsula. If Kim continues to play games, Trump can always snap back the sanctions or even add more. Letting the current stand-off continue risks the good will created in the June 12 summit.
